1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retaining device, and more particularly to a retaining device for a heat sink. The retaining device has a pair of retainers that are able to securely attach the heat sink to a socket for mounting a central processing unit (CPU) and a handle pivotally connected with the retainers. The handle has an arcuate portion and a flat portion, such that when the handle pivots, the engagement between the arcuate portion or the flat portion and an abutting latch block of the heat sink will loosen or secure the engagement between the heat sink and the CPU socket.
2. Description of Related Art
The purpose of a retaining device for a CPU heat sink is to securely attach the heat sink to a CPU socket, such that the fins of the heat sink dissipate the heat generated by the working CPU. Normally, a conventional retaining system shown in FIG. 8 has a socket (50) for receiving a CPU (60) thereon, which comprises a pair of latch blocks (55), a heat sink (70), a substantially U-shaped retaining belt (80), and a fan (75). A latch block (55) is formed on opposite sides of the socket (50). The heat sink (70) is detachably mounted on top of the socket (50) and has multiple rows of fins (71) extending out therefrom and a slot (72) defined between two adjacent rows of fins (71). The substantially U-shaped retaining belt (80) is received in the slot (72) and has a clamp (85) formed on a distal end and a through hole (86) defined in the clamp (85) to correspond to the latch blocks (55) of the socket (50). The fan (75) is securely mounted on top of the heat sink (70) to blow the heat away from the fins (71).
When the conventional retaining system is assembled, the heat sink (70) is placed on the socket (50) and then the retaining belt (80) seated in the slot (72) secures the heat sink (70) to the socket (50) by receiving the latch blocks (55) in the corresponding through holes (86). Then the fan (75) is attached to the heat sink (70) with screws. Because the retaining belt (80) is made of resilient material, when the latch blocks (55) are inserted into the corresponding through hole (86) of the retaining belt (80), the engagement between the heat sink (70) and the socket (50) is secured. However, such an engagement between the heat sink (70) and the socket (50) by means of the retaining belt (80) still has disadvantages, such as:
1. Difficult to fabricate:
Because the retaining belt (80) uses its inherent resilience to secure the heat sink (72) to the socket, the tolerance between the retaining belt (80) and the heat sink (72) must be kept as small as possible, which increases the difficulty of fabrication.
2. Engagement of the retaining belt (80) to the heat sink (72) is not secured:
Although, as mentioned above, the tolerance between the retaining belt (80) and the heat sink (72) is kept as small as possible to allow the latch block (55) to be received in the through hole of the clamping portion, the engagement between the retaining belt (80) and the heat sink (72) is not as good as expected. That is, the engagement of the retaining belt (80) to the heat sink (72) will not securely hold the heat sink (72) in position, especially under the vibration of the fan (75).
It is an objective of the invention to provide an improved retaining device to obviate and mitigate the aforementioned problems.